KALOPSIA | DALLAS WINSTON

xv. TIME OF THE SEASON

✧∭✧∭✧𝖲𝗈𝗇𝗀 𝗈𝖿 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖢𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 - 𝖳𝗂𝗆𝖾 𝗈𝖿 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖲𝖾𝖺𝗌𝗈𝗇 𝖻𝗒 𝖳𝗁𝖾 𝖹𝗈𝗆𝖻𝗂𝖾𝗌✧∭✧∭✧

CHARLOTTE'S EYES SLOWLY PULLED OPEN, heavy to keep that way. It was as though someone tied a weight to her body, dragging her into the mattress she laid upon. Her head pounded like a drum. There were sounds echoing in her ears. There was a patch on her hand. She closely followed this trail of the tubes and found herself hooked to a machine and a bag of fluid. Two shadows lingered over her, conversing as though they were underwater. Charlotte blinked harder and wondered if they knew she was awake in the first place.

"Well mornin' sunshine," One of them said in a less than sunshiney tone, removing the stethoscope from her ears. She wrote something down on her clipboard and glanced at the bag of fluid attached to Charlotte and the other nurse said something incoherent.

She slowly wet her lips, amazed she had any saliva in the first place since she was parched. Charlotte swallowed hard and winced. Her trachea felt like she swallowed a spoonful of dust. The other nurse hurried and went to find her a water while the other helped her sit up. She slowly drank and never felt so satisfied... well, not as satisfied as when she had the heroin.

"How much do you remember?" The meaner nurse asked, taking the glass away when she was done.

The heroin. The bath. The car.

"I remember getting in the car."

"Well, t' make a long story short. You n' your boyfriend were out for a drive and he lost control, some kid was in the road or so he said,"

"Didn't hit him, but he cause a lotta damage to some poor tree that got in the way," The other nurse added with an inappropriate smile as she poured another glass of water.

Charlotte's stomach twisted and churned, and her throat got tight. The nurse offered this next cup of water with a smile as the blonde dry heaved onto the woman's sleeve. The other nurse grabbed a waste basket, holding it in front of her while the saliva and vomit covered nurse wiped herself off. Another contraction and she retched into the can. Something was fighting its way out of her, but nothing came up. She shook as nausea clawed at her esophagus, a thin line of sweat coating her forehead.

For another hour she was incapacitated, clutching the thin bedsheets and shivering like a lone leaf on a tree. Was this what happened if she ignored the headaches when there wasn't any coke? Was this what it was like going without? Were these, dare she say, withdrawals?

"Sir! Sir! No visitors yet!"

"Ah, go fuck yourself, alright?" The thick voice of Santino Vitelli swore, pushing and shoving his way into Charlotte's hospital room. She broke her gaze from the floor, and his rough face nearly softened at the sight of her laying there so pathetically. "You look like a real fighter, kid."

"Thanks," She tenderly smiled, watching him move to sit beside her. "You know what day it is?"

"Sunday," He replied noncommittally, lighting himself a cigarette.

Damnit, she missed church with the family. Damnit, she was two days without a fix. The very thought made her bones feel like rubber. Now she knew never to let herself intentionally go that long without any drugs.

"Have you been coming here every day?"

"Yeah, especially since Veronica finally had her kid," Sonny replied, tilting his head back to blow his smoke towards the vents.

"Boy or girl?" Charlotte smiled, soothed at the thought. A new baby in the family, how lovely was that?

"Boy," He kicked back, relaxing as he flicked his ashes. Watching her shake like a little dog heightened his desire to smoke in the first place, "Jesus, girl, seems like that crash Dally got you two in banged you up worse than just a concussion," He noted, watching her body tremble and perspire. "They sure it's just that?"

"I dunno what else it is," She lied.

A period of silence ensued. Sonny wasn't any good at being good company. Charlotte laid back, fidgeting to soothe herself. She tossed and turned, fluffing her pillows to help placate the nerves in her muscles. A nurse walked in to aid her roommate and Charlotte sighed, trying to stay still so she could go home sooner. If she didn't shake, surely she was healthy. Sonny took note of this, raising a brow to himself. How peculiar.

On the nurse's way out, he grabbed her arm, "Heya, hon. See that girl?" He asked, pointing to Charlotte, "Get her some morphine n' somethin' t' eat, willya?"

"Sir, I don't think-"

"Look at her," Sonny shook his finger, "Are you really gonna argue that she doesn't need a little something? Christ, look at 'er. She looks like shit."

The nurse stammered, taken aback by this suggestion. He knew nothing of medicine, and yet he was so bold as to suggest what he thought the patient needed. Sonny gave the woman a look. He meant business and the nurse scurried away like a frightened mouse. Charlotte's knuckles were an unsavory shade of white, tangling the sheets between her skinny fingers.

"Is Dally okay?" She whispered, panting heavily as sweat dripped down her stomach.

"Those charges ain't lookin' too good for him... but he's doin' okay. He's already outta here as a matter of fact."

Charlotte smiled as the nurse came over. She ate quietly, trying to be careful. Sonny looked around at the room, hiding any emotion he felt watching her hands shake as she ate. Charlotte knew she looked pathetic. Could notice there was a track on her arm from her first time with heroin? She put her sandwich down to be safe and hid her arms beneath the thin hospital blankets. If Sonny found out, they would be ruined, ripped away from each other.

"How come you ain't eatin'?"

"I can't," She complained, trying to milk the pain she felt for the nurse to hurry up with her fix, "it hurts too much."

With that noted, the nurse went to her side, starting to push needles into IVs. It was coming soon. She didn't have to worry, it was coming soon. This was the mantra as Sonny looked around, noticing the ruby ring on her bedside table.

"What's this?" He asked.

"He proposed to me," Charlotte smiled, feeling the morphine and her blood mesh. She had to keep the smile tugging her lips further up her cheeks. The sweet sensation of morphine scratched an itch she couldn't reach and eased the ringing echoing in her ears. "By the way, did you get the painting to Gloria?"

"Yeah, she liked it," Sonny replied with another noncommittal shrug. Charlotte's eyes began to feel heavy and less like they were about to fall from her sockets. This was best. She would just close her eyes for a moment... it would be rude to fall asleep on Sonny.

So very rude.